When two men laundered the money they nabbed in a bank robbery, authorities said, they took the literal approach.Anthony Digiosaffatte and Paul Villanueva stuck some of the cash in a washing machine to cleanse it of red dye from a special pack that exploded during the heist, authorities said.The men stole $65,000 at gunpoint from a bank in Queens on Tuesday, according to criminal complaints. Digiosaffatte told the tellers, "No dye packs," the complaints said, referring to packs of dye banks use to foil robbers by making stolen money unusable.No such luck.... http://www.cnn.com

About 150 protesters faced off with police Saturday as they tried to exercise their right of assembly despite the Kremlin's determination to keep a lid on demonstrations during the Group of Eight summit. Authorities limited the main protest activity to a stadium in a hard-to-reach part of the city and had prohibited any marches. But protesters walked out to the gateway entrance and asked police there for permission to continue marching outside the stadium.Organizers told police they would guarantee order, but authorities refused to allow the march and said they must stay in the stadium. The demonstrators erupted in chants....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203815,00.html

Bush backed away on Saturday from a public confrontation over Russia's democracy with President Vladimir Putin, adhering to a pledge not to lecture the Kremlin leader. At a joint news conference, the two made clear they discussed their differences privately on what critics say are declining civil liberties in Russia, and stepped gingerly around the issue in their public comments. With Bush needing Russia's help on pressuring Iran and North Korea to forswear nuclear weapons, and with Middle East violence surging, democracy issues did not appear to play as dominating role in their talks as when they met in Slovakia last year. Bush said it came up at their social dinner on Friday night. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2196049

Israeli warplanes struck Lebanon for a fourth day, reportedly killing at least 26 people, hours after Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah declared war with Israel and an Israeli navy gunboat was hit off Beirut. Israeli air strikes hit a van and a taxi, as well as power stations, gas stations and bridges, Lebanese police said. The Israeli army said targets included a second attack on Hezbollah's headquarters in southern Beirut and bridges on Lebanon's border with Syria. A Lebanese police official said at least 84 people had been killed and 218 wounded in Israeli air strikes since July 12 in violence sparked by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, a Shiite fundamentalist group. Thirteen Israelis have died, including nine soldiers, according to the Israeli army....http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahrISH0oLLos&refer=top_world_news

THE Iraq war is set to overtake Korea & Vietnam as the second most expensive overseas military operation in US history, with spending expected to top the $500 billion mark by the end of the decade. According to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office, $291 billion has been allocated for the war, the equivalent of $1,000 for every man, woman & child in the US. The figures were published amid intense debate in Wash over when & how fast the US can begin to pull out of Iraq. The CBO examined 2 alternative spending projections. Under the first, more optimistic scenario, the US would maintain troop levels in Iraq at 140,000 next year but quickly begin bringing servicemen home thereafter, with almost all forces out by the end of 2009. This would still cost the taxpayer another $184 billion from 2007 to 2010. The alternative scenario is a slower drawdown & a US military presence of 40,000 over the long term. This would cost a further $406 billion over the next decade, leaving...http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-2270928,00.html

Israeli aircraft attacked the Palestinian Economy Ministry in Gaza early on Saturday, keeping up strikes against key institutions in the Hamas-led government to force militants to free an abducted soldier. Undeterred by its widening offensive inside Lebanon, Israeli aircraft also bombed a bridge in central Gaza, witnesses said. Palestinian officials said there no casualties in either early morning raid. The Israeli army confirmed the attacks.Gunmen from the militant Hamas Islamist movement were among factions that seized Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25. Hamas, which won control of the Palestinian government after winning elections in January, is sworn to Israel's destruction.Israel has killed about 80 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, in a Gaza offensive it began almost three weeks ago to pressure Hamas to free Shalit and stop rocket and other attacks by militants. Troops now occupy a part of southern Gaza....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060715/ts_nm/mideast_gaza_dc